What Does God Think of Us?

The Bible tells us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. Romans 12:3-8. There is nothing we can do to impress God. Anything good that we have in ourselves has come from him. If I am a good writer or a good preacher I must realise that God has given me those abilities. I may say that writing Christian articles on websites and preaching is my ministry but I must remember that all Christians have a ministry. The Bible says that we have lots of gifts and the gifts of practical service or hospitality are no less important than the gift of teaching.

No one is superior to anyone else. We are all sinners. No amount of fasting, praying or trying to live a good life can bring us up to the standard of God's law. The Bible is like a mirror. James 1:22-25. It shows us what we look like. Imagine getting out of bed in the morning, looking in the mirror and realising that you haven't done your hair. The Bible shows us what we need to put right but when we try to put ourselves right we find ourselves like a person who is giving up smoking and trying very hard not to think about cigarettes. When the commandment came it produced the exact opposite of the effect that was intended. Romans 7:7-11. Without the commandments we would not have known we were sinners. But the commandment not to covet provoked serious jealousy, the commandment not to commit adultery provoked serious sexual desire and we ended up worse than we were before. We are sinful human beings, unable to change ourselves. We are dead in our sins, enslaved to the devil and controlled by our evil desires. Ephesians 2:1-3. God sees us as dirty rotten sinners but loves us too much to let us stay that way. If we come to Christ we will be raised to spiritual life and seated with him in the heavenly realms for all eternity. Ephesians 2:4-10. Before the foundation of the world God planned that we should be adopted as his children and sealed with his Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:3-14. 

In 1995, school headteacher Philip Lawrence rushed out to help a boy who was being attacked by a gang with an iron bar. By the end of that day Philip Lawrence was dead. He was stabbed by a member of the gang and had died of his injuries. Ten years later the boy he had saved was in prison. The memorial garden that had been planted in his memory had been vandalised. This story has always reminded me of the death of Christ. Jesus died for the unworthy and the ungrateful. Dying for the unworthy - Philip Lawrence died for a person who would become a criminal and go to prison. Dying for the ungrateful - the friends and colleagues of the boy would vandalise the memorial garden planted in his memory. The Bible says that very rarely will anyone die for a man although for a good man someone might dare to die. God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-11.

Psalm 103 says, 'Praise the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.' We have to die to our sins. When we are baptised we go down into the water, which symbolises death, and our sinful nature is dead. Coming out of the water symbolises our resurrection. We are dead to sin and alive in Christ. Romans 6:1-11. We are no longer slaves to sin, we are slaves to righteousness. Not controlled by our evil desires anymore, we must offer ourselves to God to do his will. Romans 6:15-23. This is what Jesus meant when he said that we must be born again first of water, then of the Spirit. John 3:1-8. The Spirit of God will come to us and make his home in us. He will give us a new heart. We will be a completely new person, a new creation. 2Corinthians 5:17.